Since this forum is monitored by Express Customer Care, I am hoping these comments will be considered.
One of the most common complaints about Express over at poi-factory is that is makes the assumption that the user wants to have Express available all the time. Thus, Express puts an entry into HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run such that Express will always boot at every startup. Express also runs a Service
c:\program files (x86)\garmin\core update service \garmin.cartography.mapupdate.coreservice.exe
I know that Express can be used for several purposes but it seems most people use it on a quarterly basis to update to the latest maps. It seems presumptuous that Garmin would thinks that its customers would want software running all the time looking for the attachment of a Garmin Device to the computer.
For a large group of those I associate with, the principal reason for attaching a Garmin device is to add Custom POIs to our units. This activity does not require Express and certainly does not justify the extra start up time taken so that Express can be at the ready. Plus, it does not make sense that Garmin would want to incur server activity when all people were trying to do was add a new set of Custom POIs.
And so, what many of us do is to get our maps updated and then promptly uninstall Express or use tools like MSCONFIG or Autoruns to uncheck the registry key and Service (keeping Express from running).
If the reasoning for keeping Express running all of the time involves the thinking that people would want to know if there were firmware updates to their device, then there are better ways for this to be accomplished. I myself have asked, I think, that I be notified by e-mail whenever there are updates to the two Garmin Devices that I own. I have never been notified on my devices - the only notifications I have received have concerned a Fenix - which I do not own.
An alternative might be to offer to put an Icon on the desktop so that Express could be more easily accessed that having to go through Start > Programs etc..
If there is some strategic rationale for Express to run all the time, it would be helpful to those of us who consider this an affront to our desire to keep our computers attention directed to only those tasks we want to be told what this rationale is. Then a true debate could be initiated that might benefit both Garmin and customers.